David Silva is behind more goals than any other midfielder, having a total of 17 goals and assists, followed by Gareth Bale on 16. Nani and Mata are tied on 13, Valencia and Nasri on 10, Giggs with 9 and Young on 7. However, when you take in to consideration the games they’ve actually played in, specifically focussing on starts, Giggsy comes out top with an impressive 1.13 goals scored or created per each start. This is followed by Valencia with 0.83, Silva on 0.81, Bale on 0.73, Nasri on 0.67, Nani on 0.65, Young on 0.64 and Mata on 0.62.
Man Utd News 24/7
Stats can be misleading but I honestly feel that Silva is the one that got away from us.
Giggs doing what he is doing at his age is just awesome :worship:
Has been tearing you apart for 22 years is our Giggsy. Silva has been without doubt the bitters’ best player this season.
take silva and yaya tourse out of city and they’ll be languishing mid-table.
certainly calls to question the excessive spending in the past few years.
the stat that should be focused on is the number of players in the above list per team..
untied have giggsy nani tony v and young..
city have silva and naseri..
shows the strength in depth that united posses..
so in this case the statistic is not irrelevant. just shows that united are more than the sum of their parts and city have heartless gormless money grabbing whores in their squad.
well it doesn’t literally show that but its possible to make such an inference
hello fellow devils.
its a beautiful day to be a united fan. hoping to see scouser’s crushed.
excellent blog STR. loved every bit of whatever i read..
awesome banter in the comments section too…
ex f365 a great write up about the indomitable spirit shown by our lads in the face of adversity
*Is there a greater sight than Manchester United sensing a comeback?
There’s little stopping them when they smell blood. Chelsea went from being a prancing herd of gazelles to a bunch of lumbering wildebeest, wounded by United’s persistent predation. It was like watching an Attenborough special at times – there was something so inevitable about the chase; the cruelty of nature in all of its awe-inspiring glory. And what made it worse was that Chelsea were complicit in their own sorry downfall. Everyone knows the herd should stay together, but individual errors from Daniel Sturridge, Branislav Ivanovic and the sleepy-headed David Luiz cost them dearly.
Only time prevented United from taking all three points and now Newcastle, Arsenal and Liverpool will look to feed on the bloodied blue carcass.
@cedars : any idea if cleverly played in the reserves game? or is it today?
Did you know that he was actually born as Ryan Wilson?
Did you know that as a school boy he was at City?
Did you know that Sir Alex personally went round to his parents house and convinced them that Ryan should sign for United?
Did you know that Ryan actually captained England at school boy level?
The statue outside OT is well due Ryan, you are a true UNITED legend
Rohan
No idea pal, sadly I have been out of touch with the reserves or the youth team action for over two years which is really sad. All I know that wee Thomas has been back to full training for a while now. Even checked the club’s website, nothing there about the reserves
looking at the number of games played giggsy has outplayed almost everyone on that list…
love the man. humble and loyal. a true manchester united legend.
the statue should’ve been of fergie and his fledglings (giggs scholes neville).. the modest human beings that ushered this era of success and pride for us fans….
Rohan. The reserve game at chelsea was canceled yesterday.
cedars
yeah even ‘ve been pouring through everything i can get my hands on to get some news…
a midfield trio of scholes carrick and cleverly would scare the daylights out of the scousers
@keano99 : thanks for the info. any idea if cleverly will be involved come saturday?
Rohan
How about a trio of Jones, wee Thomas & Carrick? With the Ginger Prince coming on in the second half……
For those who didn’t make it home, for those who never played on England’s hallowed turf again. For players and non-players alike killed in this tragedy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4RVbJQSgW8
a day too late but i never got around to posting yesterday..
REST IN PEACE
Manchester United players
Geoff Bent
Roger Byrne
Eddie Colman
Duncan Edwards (survived the crash, but died in hospital 15 days later)
Mark Jones
David Pegg
Tommy Taylor
Liam “Billy” Whelan
Manchester United staff
Walter Crickmer, club secretary
Tom Curry, trainer
Bert Whalley, chief coach
Journalists
Alf Clarke, Manchester Evening Chronicle
Donny Davies, Manchester Guardian
George Follows, Daily Herald
Tom Jackson, Manchester Evening News
Archie Ledbrooke, Daily Mirror
Henry Rose, Daily Express
Frank Swift, News of the World (also former England and Manchester City goalkeeper; died on his way to hospital)
Eric Thompson, Daily Mail
Other passengers
Bela Miklos, travel agent
Willie Satinoff, supporter, racecourse owner and close friend of Matt Busby
DId you know Ryan Giggs’s dad played international rugby for Wales. He did captin England school boys, as he went to school in England but could never of played for england as he was completly Welsh!
cedars ,
yes that does sound better than the one i suggested.. but i do want to see scholes and clev play together once. master and protege. ripping apart those racist bastards.
The great Harry Gregg.
Vera Lukić and baby daughter Venona, passengers were saved by Manchester United player Harry Gregg. At the time of the accident, she was pregnant with her son Zoran, who also survived.
some of the great comebacks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts-CqI50Hcs&feature=related
our lads in training.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwH-VVsONp0&feature=related
this is why pogba’s got it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TObET2ZQCIQ&feature=related
Sir alex must not change a winning team!!!
United drew at the Bridge, a game I thought that most Reds would watch.
To the posters on RoM that cluelessly attribute Chelsea’s first goal to an error by Evra, either you didn’t watch the incident, or you were myopic. Also, de Gea did not blame Evans for the goal as some shallow anti de Gea fans would have us believe.
Chelsea work the ball on the right, pulling an unsure Ashley Young around. Evra is marking Sturridge near the touchline when Ivanovic makes a run in towards the box. Young signals Evra to go with the runner, which Evra does excellently. Young then ball-watches, turning his back on Sturridge, who jogs past Young. Sturridge continues unattended for 20 metres, all the way in to the right of the box. Meanwhile Essien plays the ball in to Mata on the corner of the big box, who turns infield but reverses his pass to the incoming Ivanovic who is closely shepherded by Evra. The ball deflects fortuitously off Ivanovic’s heel into the path of the unattended Sturridge. As the Chelsea players in the box are square of Sturridge, Evra is quickly positioned to block the square pass. Any decent winger can and will then take the ball towards the byeline, which Sturridge did. This extremely narrows any angle for a shot but increases his potential crossing sector (to about 60°), and improves any central player’s chances of turning a cross/pass goalward. Sturridge ignores the open Torres, and fires in to the 6 yard box. Quick-witted de Gea gets a foot on it, but unfortunately deflects the speeding ball onto Evans solid chest and into the net. Rafael and de Gea’s eyes meet and, distraught with the unfairness of the goal, they throw their latin arms in the air and roar disappointedly.
Thanks rohan19, that Pogba goal shows he can do it on a fairly consistent basis.
smartalex – Mate, you need to write a novel. Reading that made me feel like I was there, watching the action from close quarters!
sm@rt@lex, some would say you watched with red-tinted specs. But that’s what we SHOULD all be doing, isn’t it? Where’s the fun in assigning blame on the players of the club you support?
@ yor your : too true. also evra’s attacking play provides so much that its wrong to criticize his defending continuously. yes he looks a tad burnt out but be fair on the lad he’s our most consistent name on the team sheet in a season where all others have fallen like dominoes.!!!
RedManWalking – hello mate! I am working on it, but it’s still a long way from somewhere.
YorYor – hello buddy! I do have red-tinted specs. There is no fun in assigning blame. In the referred instance, it is unfortunately true to say that Young’s inattention enabled a situation that we we unluckily conceded from. I still love all our players, and take care to be analytical and accurate rather than disgruntled and accusatory.
On the topic of fullbacks, how good was Rafael on Sunday? I’ve never seem him so composed and concentrating so much. Every challenge he went into was measured and he was always tight to his man, which was more than could be said for Evra.
Hope Rafael gets a start on Sat and that leads on to a run of games. I don’t see why he shouldn’t be the league’s best RB next season.
kanchelskis
rafael has been good ever since he returned from injury. provided he stays injury free for the rest of the campaign, he’s nailed the RB spot…
and since he’s playing well. we may finally see a sustained spell for phil jones in midfield..
looking at our squad now i don’t thing we need to splurge on a midfielder in the summer. .
pogba tunnicliffe will join the current crop making us strong enough in that area..
also the progress shown by larnell cole and jesse lingard is very heartening
@smartalex : scarily accurate and absolutely great analysis, you’ve got a great eye to spot such stuff.
cheers.
sm@rt@lex, yeah on another day, Evra may stick his foot out and deflect the ball out for a corner, who knows. It really is one of those days, or rather a period of 10 minutes (straddling half time) where their touch just turned golden, while our sustained pressure in the majority of the first half just didn’t pay off. Had we scored first, it would’ve been different I’m sure.
Rafael was excellent on Sunday, none of those crazy tackles he generally makes.
Chicharito hasn’t been as good this season as he was last year, but his movement is excellent. Luiz and Cahill had no idea what to do with him. I have a feeling this current crop of players is going to go far, we’re gonna have success in the next few years.
I still have a feeling we’re gonna win this league relatively easy, but that’s just the optimist in me!
Sorry for the disconnected thoughts, I’m a bit distracted!
King Eric- I can imagine how it is with the kid, please tell me he’s being raised a red? Haha. Yeah, I plan on posting on here more often from now, but these imposter cunts put me off it.
I fucking hate Liverpool.
@rohan19
One thing I’ve noticed as well – strange as it may sound – is the difference his haircut makes. With his cute, playful fro he looked like some innocent little boy and it somehow reflected the naivety with which he played.
But his shorter hair – as well as generating the bizarre illusion of making him look a lot taller – also gives a more mature and authoritative air. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but against Chelsea he looked like a man, not a boy.
Dalglish is a fucking cunt too.
Kanchelskis- Hello mate. Yeah I said that about Rafael too, his haircut changing makes him look more manly, maybe it’s no coincidence that he’s playing more like a man than a hyperactive little kid? lol
But seriously, some of our players have shocking hair! Short back and sides is the way to go! Sort it out Fergie!
kanchelskis – hello mate!
Rafael ruled the right hand side. Of course, he had Valencia with him.
Evra had Young.
Defensively, (Valencia + RB) > (Young + LB), whoever the LB or RB are. Much greater.
Further, Evra is more important on attack than about 8 players in every game.
He is primarily involved in attack. He is not under the same directives as Rafael.
I’d say Rafael put in an exemplary performance. So did Evra.
For starters, he single-handedly won the first penalty, the key moment of our fight-back.
Players in defensive roles don’t win many penalties!
boogeyman : i second you on both those sentiments. cheers.
on another note here’s another example of the weird behavior exemplified by the FA
Paul Scharner has been told he is not allowed to wear a shirt under his West Brom top on Sunday by the F.A
The reserve fixture at the Hawthorns between West Brom and Wolves saw Scharner reveal another shirt underneath his baggies one, this was flashed to the home support.
The picture he had on it was drew by his 3 kids and printed on a T-Shirt this was then auctioned off. But due to popular demand they made some for fans and the money went to charity.
He also wore the shirt against Aston Villa away and showed the away support the shirt in question. This caused no issue and wasn’t even mentioned in post match talks.
bloody scousers sell shirts with rat faced racist on it and its fine.
kanchelskis : yes i noticed the same too. i think this is the he’s played in a while. long may it continue.
dying to see cleverly play with scholes.. that would be one great sight
rohan19 – Thanks mate! Perhaps I should take up refereeing. Biased? Me? Never!
Ha Ha Ha ! ! !
Every game would be a 0:0 draw, with at least 4 red cards. Unless United was playing.
Every one of our players would score at least one, including the keeper.
Thank goodness Carroll and Torres aren’t our players, or the match would never end!
@smartalex
Alright fella
Yeh, I’m always torn over criticising Evra for his attacking emphasis. His default position at any given moment seems to be the halfway line. But yes – he’ll get to the opposite byline 5 or 6 times in the average match and cause havoc. As you say, he gave us the way back into the match on Sunday.
BUT, he might’ve done better for all three of their goals! Stronger against Sturridge, tighter on Torres, and not giving away the FK for the third!
Young is a hard worker down the flank but not a natural defender. Lack of match sharpness may have contributed to Evra being somewhat exposed.
@theboogeyman
You mean you don’t like Danny’s Fresh Prince stackfro?!
@ smartalex : another interesting stat says evra has made the 3rd most number of ‘key passes’ for us this season after nani and rooney. .that shows his importance to our team.
if only we had an equivalent of tony v on the left hand side the defensive errors or lets say the positional errors would be avoided to a certain extent. that guy has got exemplary work rate and drive. strong as an ox too.. he would cover for evra while bombing forward thus not leaving us bare at the back.
smartalex – will be waiting for that novel
YorYor – As far as I can see it, we scored 5 of the 6 goals, were wrongly not awarded 2 penalties, and should have played most of the game against 10 men. Chelsea can again count themselves lucky.
from football365 :
*Is there a greater sight than Manchester United sensing a comeback?
There’s little stopping them when they smell blood. Chelsea went from being a prancing herd of gazelles to a bunch of lumbering wildebeest, wounded by United’s persistent predation. It was like watching an Attenborough special at times – there was something so inevitable about the chase; the cruelty of nature in all of its awe-inspiring glory. And what made it worse was that Chelsea were complicit in their own sorry downfall. Everyone knows the herd should stay together, but individual errors from Daniel Sturridge, Branislav Ivanovic and the sleepy-headed David Luiz cost them dearly.
Only time prevented United from taking all three points and now Newcastle, Arsenal and Liverpool will look to feed on the bloodied blue carcass.
@smartalex : i doubt any poster on this site would referee a match with torres and carroll playing.
Luis Suarez was quick to apologize to Scott Parker after kicking him in the head:
“Sorry, I thought your were Ledley King”
Did anyone see the Cat on the pitch at Anfield?
It was only on for three minutes and went past more people than Stewart Downing has all season.
Reserve fixture postponed:
Mon Feb 6 – Chelsea (A) Cobham Training Ground – Postponed, new date TBC
Morning .
I was DISGUSTED yesterday. On a day where the media should have at least mentioned Munich all they fucking did was blather on about Capello and fucking Terry and how he still should be captain. Disrespectful cunts.
On an off topic matter just like the media call Gerrard “Stevie” why do they insist on calling Parker “Scotty”? Yes I know its small but it bugs me to fuck.
rohan – Ha. Nice one about the cat. I said to my wife at the time it would do more than Carrol could could muster. Leave it on the pitch!!
I remember telling King Eric back in 2009 that we should get Silva. He wouldn’t listen.
Valencia’s season basically started in early December, so his stats are really impressive.
@king eric : thanks. see this http://www.sickipedia.org/subcategory/view/145?page=1
many more on here..
wayne rooney’s twitter account is pure gold. you’d love his comments about american football. .
i tried watching the superbowl. any sport in which adds are more important than the actual game is a waste of time in my opinion.
kanchelskis – To say that Evra might’ve done better for all three of their goals, is odd.
“Stronger against Sturridge, tighter on Torres, and not giving away the FK for the third”
First goal I have covered, but considering your thought that Evra could then have been stronger on Sturridge, I will say that the speed and conditions of the event dictated his behaviour. Had he been strong on Sturridge, we would have likely conceded a penalty. It was critical not to let Sturridge shoot with his left through any slight gap, so he was shown the byline. Evra was correct to follow and close down a reversed cross while de Gea covered the post and Evans closed the gap.
Second goal, you feel he should have been tighter on Torres. Impossible.
From the kickoff Chelsea work the ball back and then up the right hand side where Evra is marking Sturridge 10 metres inside our half. Essien passes out to Sturridge’s feet, who keeps his back to our goal (and Evra) while tracking back infield with the ball; closely followed by Evra. Sturridge passes back to Essien who plays the ball forward to the pairing of Torres and Ivanovic. This was a pre-planned kick-off strategy. Ferdinand is drawn across towards them, but Young again is ball-watching and off the pace of the game, and is late following Ivanovic’s run. Meanwhile Evra has moved back to fill in for Rio who was necessarily drawn out to the left by Torres’ movement into the space created by Chelsea’s ploy.While Torres moves out to the touchline, Ivanovic squares the ball towards Sturridge in the centre but Carrick intercepts and the ball bounces towards the incoming Ivanovic who Evra closes in on. Play is now 25 yards from goal, mid-right field. Ferdinand is on the corner of the big box, with Young hovering metres in front of him. Ivanovic plays the ball out to the waiting Torres on the touchline. Rio runs back to position-1 for the left CH defending a cross. Young, still ball-watching, jogs around in the same place he was, while Evra now chases out after the ball heading to Torres. Torres immediately whips a great cross in to the far post, long before Evra could get tight on him. Mata scores a cracker.
The goal could easily have been prevented. Had Ashley played any part in the defense of that attack, Chelsea would not have scored. Had Rio at any time during the preceding 5 seconds thought to tell Young to move out towards Torres, Chelsea would not have scored. It is incorrect to apportion any discredit at Evra’s door in this instance.
Third goal, it is true to say that the free-kick should not have been conceded.
It’s also true to say that we would successfully defend that free kick nearly every time; the goal was very unfortunate in that Rio powered the deflected ball with his shoulder into our net; letting Sturridge free down the right was also not a good option; and Evra’s tackle was only slightly miss-timed.
I’d give you ½ out of 3, and only because I like you!
costas – silva is not an out and out winger. He’s more a floating number 10 and with the system united employ, he probably wouldn’t have fit in. Maybe he’d have been good for europe in terms of the system Fergie plays but pointless now thinking about what ifs. Fergie is clearly interested in building for the long term.
rohan19
Great stat, thanks! I’ll repeat that:
Evra has made the 3rd most ‘key passes’ for us this season, after Nani and Rooney.
de gea has finally cracked
fourfourtwo.com/blogs/backofthenet/archive/2012/02/07/de-gea-if-i-stare-at-the-floodlights-i-see-angels.aspx
RedManWalking – I’ll send you an autographed copy once it’s written and published.
I’d have to push up sales somehow!
ps Don’t hold your breath, I’m nowhere at present.
King eric – i cringe at that as wel. “Scotty”, he’s a decent player but with the way media bang on about him, you’d think he’s the reincarnation of lothar mathaus.
A cat at Anfield? Rat-catcher, no doubt.
Half time delicacy: rat-on-a-stick perhaps?
You’re a boring prick ricky!
Does match-fixing take place in Football?
ex BBC:
A new survey has revealed that almost a quarter of players in Southern and Eastern Europe (23.6%) are AWARE of match-fixing in their league.
The stats, collated by FIFPro, the worldwide union for professional footballers, may cause particular concern for 2018 World Cup hosts Russia, where that figure is as high as 43.5%
Surely not in Blighty?
@Costas: More than Silva, the one I think we should have gone for is Yaya. Silva doesn’t fit into a 4-4-2, while Yaya does. But then I got roasted by many for suggesting it at that time too
Costas – hello mate! Please close your eyes!
Evra said: “I don’t know what is happening, I think someone is doing some voodoo on us!
Okay Costas, you can open them now.
Evra continued:
“It’s amazing how many injuries we’ve had. I see many teams complaining about the injuries they have but, for us, it has been amazing. “To lose a player like Vidic for the season yet we’ve coped with that. I think to get so close to Manchester City, given the injuries we have had, shows we have really good spirit in the team. That’s the most important thing and that’s the culture of the club. No matter what happens, we don’t like to have excuses. I just say ‘well done’ to every player but the job is not finished. The most important part is still to come.”
since sepp blatter is the president of FIFA. nothing can be discounted.
being an ardent cricket follower match fixing, really sickens me. it has already diminished cricket as a sport.
i really hope no such things exist in EPL.
@ricky : wrong time to post that mate. what after de gea pulled off a wonder save in the last game.
Can some people come out of the closet on here and finally admit they’re secretly hair-dressers?
*being an ardent cricket follower , match fixing really sickens me.
and so does my grammar in the last post.
willie went straight to the point with that comment. hahahahahaha!
@jeet. : i believe tunni will be ten times what yaya is. and in this season im sure jones is well up for the task.
@rohan19: yeah, kinda agreed. Jones has the potential to be a better player than yaya, though his lack of experience shows atm. Haven’t seen tunni, but judging from the reviews on rom, he should be the real deal. Still, the fat bastard yaya could have been a decent squad player, no?
Fernando Torres walks into a bar and says, “I’ll have a couple of shots please.” The barman says, “That’s not like you.”
Worried about her son, Torres’s mum sends him to a careers adviser. All goes well until he asks: ‘What are your goals?’
Torres and Gomes would make awful fishermen. Torres can’t get anything in the net and Gomes struggles to catch stuff.
Rumours are the new FIFA12 game has a special ‘Torres mode’ – when you select it, it’s suddenly impossible to…. Oh, what’s the use
@ jeet : yep he would also have cost a lot.. what with city revving up the price for every united target..
A pair of football boots have been fined by Chelsea, after claiming their owner Fernando Torres is s***, slow and prone to smelly feet. The outburst came on a Spanish radio station in which the boots told presenter Juan Momente-Calla ‘why couldn’t we be owned by Ross Turnbull? At least that way we’d be kept clean. Sitting on a bench being rubbish is one thing but running around skying things over the bar is just embarrassing.’
Andy Carroll and Steven Gerrard are excited about pairing up to form a strong attacking partnership………They will be a real handful for any team of bouncers in Liverpool’s nightclubs.
Andy Carroll has turned down being the new face of L’oreal hair products as everyone burst into fits of laughter everytime he uttered the words “Because Im Worth It!”
When a girl hits the floor & its not Collymore, Andy Carroll,
When you’re glassed in the face by a mag with no pace, Andy Carroll,
When you’re cars set on fire, called a **** and a liar, Andy Carroll,
When you’re either in jail, hitting birds or on bail, Andy Carroll.
Andy Carroll-The biggest waste of money since fat birds with nice haircuts.
adios ROM
Rohan: quality, mate! LMFAO
@smartalex
I think it’s fair to say you’ve analysed their goals more closely than I have. I consider myself told!
(but only cos I like you)
kanchelskis – share the love, man!
I am of course biased, but it doesn’t play a role in self-analysis (‘self’ in this case being United)
Its good to see the stats at a glance, but one thing they don’t compare is positioning on the pitch. Silva plays far more centrally than his main competitor Nani, so you rarely see him tied to the sideline for City , or covering for wing back, or trying to beat a winger and a wing back – thats why his crosses per game are even lower than Giggs.
But Nani does all the above, thats why he has highest number of crosses per game. He always has chalk on his boots and we mainly see him come infield only when Evra overlaps and pulls one defender with him. All things considered Nani shouldn’t be performing anywhere near a top player positioned more centrally, plus he’s a year younger with less experience so that shows how good he’s becoming. Silva has been first team nearly a decade don’t forget, while our Cape Verdian was introduced gradually and only became a regular starter fairly recently.
Ask me Nani isn’t destined to stay on the wings anyway, as he’s not an out and out winger like Valencia, (who is the best in the league when fit btw). Nani has much more in his locker, so I’d much rather see him more centrally next season. But before that, if he’s fit I’d much rather see him have some revenge against Liverpool THIS weekend. No doubt they’ll be booing and jeering his every touch after nearly having his leg broken, but after missing a few games I think he’ll be well up for this one and its been a while since he’s got one against them.
Mario Balotelli is a dick again, until he does something awesome like take a piss in a school canteen reports have revealed. The headline making Manchester City forward took time away from his busy schedule of wandering round Manchester doing weird stuff with no facial expressions to play some football and kick someone in the head, leaving spectators to question ‘that didn’t seem so wicked awesome?’
well now im gone. laters.
@paul parker. : i believe once nani young are fit and sharp fergie will try playing wither nani or young more centrally.. i believe it’ll work better with young. he’s been struggling a little on the wings..
sorry for the rambling jokes. here’s one more.. :
England manager Fabio Capello is preparing to kick FA Chairman David Bernstein in the nuts for one last shot at his big money payoff. The Italian, who has so far tried a combination of total incompetence and outright hypocrisy to see his contract terminated is now going back to basics and plans to pelt Bernstein right where it hurts to see if he can save any of his retirement fund.
Speaking to an Italian news channel the former Real Madrid boss claimed ‘I try the everything. When I picked Darren Bent up front, I thought game over. But now Bernstein must take one in sack of balls. I hold P45 ready and book holiday villa in Caribbean. I hope it go very well.’
But a steadfast FA responded with a statement late last night saying ‘I don’t think Mr Capello has quite appreciated just how tight we actually are. He could run away with my wife and I’d still force him to sit on that touchline for the Euros. We all have to, so why shouldn’t he?
@smartalex
It’s ok, I can handle it mate! Might as well be voodoo. Who knows? Good thing Pat always manages to escape that curse.
@samuel
Maybe, but I think we would have been flexible enough to have him fit in our system. Whether he played as a winger or a 2nd striker. At the time, I remember the main critisism being that he was too skinny for the EPL. Apparently that wasn’t the case.
It always seems to be a freak show at the Bridge 2 own goals in one game,on the first goal thought Evra gave him to much room to make the move to the line on the 3rd goal it was a lazy tackle and he should have never dived in.Not having a go at Evra but his defensive game is not consistent and has been lacking in that department for a while and DDG would have been better hugging his post for the 1st there wasn’t really an angle to shoot but it is what it is.
Mata looks quality think Rentboys have made a good signing in him,just like City with Sliva sign enough one’s got to stick.Don’t change my mind about Torres he’s a big waste of money and as KE mentioned yesterday Carrol is the biggest waste of money ever would rather have Crouch playing,Carrol isn’t prem quality whether it’s to do with his lifestyle effecting his game i don’t know but what a fucking lump.
@Rohan19 – before we signed him Young was working wonders for the National team in a central position. He was the country’s best player on the pitch for a long time imo. Young can def play the central role as he has experience there, but still think Nani could be our best option should Alex decide to tuck one winger infield. When Nani gets the ball centrally and has anything like a one on one with the keeper he hardly misses those, as we’ve seen in quite a few big games against the best teams over the years.
To be honest, I didn’t think that silva would do well in England given that he’s built like a flamingo. That is why I wasn’t that upset when he went to City. He’s clearly proven people wrong and done really well.
I’m not a fan of right-footed players playing on the left wing unless you’re as talented as CR7. Young is too predictable on the left wing; he’s always looking to get onto his right foot. That doesnt make him into a very effective winger. On the other hand, in a central role, he’d be more reliable than Nani because he works harder, tracks back more and less selfish with the ball at his feet than Nani.
So we have a couple of top wingers, not too surprising that! Innit?
Need to convert to more wins. That means the defense needs more sorting.
Young tracks back more, me don’t agree. Look at Arsenal goals, look at Chelsea goals, I’ve seen him go to sleep too many times for my liking. I think Nani puts more effort than Young when off the ball, plus Young is one dimensional. I’m not saying this after one performance, I really never liked him in the first place. I hope he can prove me wrong.
samuel – Ha. I know mate. What the fuck is this “Scotty” nonsense all about? Its fucking SCOTT.
Willie – Comment to ricky, comedy gold mate! Cleverley injured in training. De gea cracking. Some other shite on Sunday. Bore off.
Costas – Yes yes I know mate! Silva has been top drawer for the bitters BUT in recent weeks his form has dipped. Hoping he is burnt out!
Not sure if that was the real smartalex or not but unfortunately the analysis on all 3 goals was wildly incorrect. On the 1st goal Evra clearly had Rio on his infield shoulder doubling Sturridge and should not have been shading him to the inside as well, if nothing else he should have been playing him even so when he did drive for the line he could have run him out. For the second goal I cant even imagine what game youre actually watching, Pat lazily strolls over towards Torres and doesn’t even attempt to make him rush the cross, not only should he have been more aware of Torres getting out wide on him but he should have done much better getting back to cover him. And for the 3rd goal, come on that was one of the laziest half hearted challenges Ive ever seen from Pat and while he had nothing to do with giving up the actual goal his poor decision making on the challenge certainly contributed.
I dont think Pat is past it or whatever some of the posters have said but he clearly has had some glaring defensive breakdowns and regardless of how important he is to our attack his 1st responsibility is to defend. Rose colored happy thoughts can’t paper over the reality that we can’t afford those types of mental lapses time and again.
Me again !
SmartAlex – good analysis of Patrice Evra’s “faults” BUT I’m inclined to agree with Wayne (@14:23). It seems to me that CaptainEvra is a victim of his own success – the guy plays all the time and he’s had a lot of “issues” to deal with since the 2010 World Cup – and SAF has leaned too heavily on his amazing physical energy and leadership. He needs a beach-holiday !
Scott – about your ” lies, damned lies, and statistics” – surely the most significant information would be goal-contribution per minutes-played and even that would have to be finnessed to take into account starts and late-substitutions since a player like SirRyanGiggs gets lots of playing-time when he comes on in the later stages of a match when a goal is needed and his team is pressing for a late-equalizer/winner whereas, say, Nani/Silva rarely don’t start. But, be that as it may be, Giggs has shown that he can deliver a killer-ball – against TheArse to the far-post to Valencia and the other day against the RentBoyz when he found Chicharito in-between two much taller defenders.
On another, unrelated topic – rumours persist that UTD are keen on Borussia Dortmund’s central defender, the Serbian who was CaptainVidic’s team-mate, Nevin Subotic. THAT would be an excellent signing ‘cos it would solve two problems – a new defensive bulwark who could free MrJones for the box-to-box midfield role. From what I understand, Subotic grew up in Chicago so his English should be almost-OK !
This is proof that playing wide men still works. Im not one for stats because from those you think nani is having a good season.
JC
You say that my analysis on all 3 goals was wildly incorrect.
I challenge you to review the footage while considering my analysis and find 1 error in fact.
WITH THE NUMBER OF PLAYERS MAN UTD HAVE GOT ON THE SIDE-LINES,HAD IT BEEN CITY,THEY WILL BE FIGHTING RELEGATION.
I did, Ive watched the game 4 times and slo-mo’d all the goals, with all due respect I believe that your analysis is colored by your love for United and your willingness to defend our captain and player against any criticism regardless of the validity, which while commendable is shortsighted if it ends up costing us points. He needs a rest and a push from competition for his automatic slot, Im not saying I dont like him and that he isnt a good player (because I do and he is), just that he needs to step back and refocus on his defensive duties and stop have those mental lapses.
JC @ 22:19: no question that CaptainEvra “seems to be” suffering from too many physical/psychological demands. He does seem burned-out because these “lapses” are becoming an increasingly-common part of his performance.
After this week-end’s derby-match against TheVermin there’s only the away match with Norwich before the visit to Tottenham ( I’m not counting the home/away with Ajax in the Thursday-night festival ). CaptainEvra should be sent somewhere hot to de-compress for a week/ten days.
I seem to recall that SAF did something like that with CR7 and it worked a treat
I hear ya DD. With all the Saurez garbage I feel theres no way he gets rested this week as it would be like handing the racists a win of some sort but I’d like to see Fabio get the start at Norwich and see Zeki on the bench. Not as a punishment just to get the man a breather and let him come back with a fresh perspective for the run out. Well that plus I want to see what Fabio can give us going forward and defending on the left now that he’s he’s healthy again, that boys got talent so let’s get him a game or 2.
I wouldn’t swap Pat for any left back in world football. Yes he has been caught on a fair few times but there is nobody better at attacking from that position. With the modern day wings backs defending unfortunately seems secondary. Look at Cole these days. A top player and rarely has a bad game but even he doesn’t get forward as much as Pat. His age will be a factor. He WILL struggle getting up and down the pitch like two or so years ago but like I say wouldn’t swap him for anyone.
King Eric @ 0:02
I don’t want to get onto a “mine is bigger than yours” debate but that Brazilian kid, Marcelo, who plays for TheVirus, is also a damned-good attacking fullback. But I’m happy with CaptainEvra AND he ain’t going away any time soon.
JC
You said that my analysis on all 3 goals was wildly incorrect.
I challenged you to review the footage while considering my analysis and find 1 error in fact.
Now you claim to have watched it 4 times. Watch it another 4 million times if you like, my comments remain statements of fact. You state no facts, only conjecture. Your opinions reveal nothing. My descriptions are very accurate, yours are non-existent.
Instead of repeatedly claiming that my comment is false, SHOW it to be false.
All you are doing is heckling. You say my analysis on all 3 goals was wildly incorrect.
Please take my analysis and show me errors. Show me the errors.
Of course, you will not because you cannot.
No need to get into a war of words there pal (wildly inaccurate may have been hyperbole on my part but I maintain my disagreement with your analysis), you continue to believe your opinion on the plays is accurate, I don’t. I described how I saw and see the plays, you still don’t agree, no ones mind is going to be changed arguing on the internet. I do believe your opinion is based more on your love for the team and willingness to blind yourself to valid critiques than of actual footage of the game but you’re a true Red obviously smartalex, that I would never dispute.
Also Im not going to restate my 1st post, you read it or maybe you didnt if you didnt make it past the wildly inaccurate line but it’s there and I clearly described what I saw on each goal (I really dont think I need to go into frame by frame detail Im not doing play by play just after match analysis). You believe that Pat did the best he was able to in each circumstance and that each goal could be laid at the foot of someone else, I don’t believe he did and that he had other options in each case that a defender of his caliber should have been able to select.
My main point and a lot of others on the blog has been that these small lapses seem to be happening with increasing regularity and perhaps he needs a rest to sort it out or get some energy back. Im not too sure why thats such a controversial opinion with you as I never said he was done or over it.
JC
Point out my “war of words”
There are none.
Please, validate your statement by examining the comments you called “wildly inaccurate” and show me the inaccuracies.
Only one stat I will be interested in come the end of the season and it will involve he number 20.